The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Israel for using “excessive force” against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

The resolution, “Protection of the Palestinian civilian population,” which was proposed by Algeria and Turkey, was passed with 120 “yes” votes, eight “no” votes, and 45 abstentions. A similar resolution was rejected by the UN Security Council earlier this month after a US veto.

According to the language of the resolution, it condemned the “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force by the Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians,” while calling on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to submit a report within 60 days on his proposals for “ensuring the safety, protection and well-being of the Palestinians.”

Prior to the resolution’s adoption, the United States attempted to add an amendment condemning Hamas. However, that amendment, which was supported by a slim majority of countries, 62-58, was ultimately rejected on procedural grounds after failing to achieve a two-thirds majority.

“The nature of this resolution clearly demonstrates that politics is driving the day. It is totally one-sided. It makes not one mention of the Hamas terrorists who routinely initiate the violence in Gaza,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the UN body.

In his address prior to the vote, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon harshly criticized the countries supporting the resolution.

“The resolution before you today does not protect innocent Palestinians. It does not protect innocent Israelis. It does not condemn, does not even mention, Hamas, the internationally recognized terrorist organization directly responsible the violence in our region,” he said. “By supporting this resolution, you are colluding with a terrorist organization. By supporting this resolution, you are empowering Hamas.”

The UN Human Rights Council will kick off a new session Monday under a cloud of growing US criticism and the threat of Washington withdrawing from the body altogether, primarily over its anti-Israel bias.

Longstanding US criticism of the council for its bias against Israel has escalated since UN-skeptic Donald Trump came to power.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave a fiery speech before the Geneva-based council a year ago, demanding deep reforms to fix its “chronic anti-Israel bias.”

She also demanded the body throw out abusive regimes, like Venezuela and Burundi, which hold seats on the rotating 47-seat council.

Despite the tough US rhetoric — which essentially said reform or we are leaving — little has changed.

Tired of waiting for reform, Washington a few weeks ago circulated a proposed resolution unilaterally laying out the full makeover it was looking for.

But the US received little support and has not yet formally tabled the resolution, sparking fevered speculation it was about to quit, and fears of the impact that would have.

President Trump – still mulling over the release of his ultimate peace deal to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict – has seen the swift rejection of the call by Jason D. Greenblatt – Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations – to have Dr Saeb Erekat replaced as chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in future negotiations with Israel.

Greenblatt raised America’s objection to Erekat in stark and uncompromising terms – alleging Erekat
- failed to contribute to an atmosphere conducive to peace
- used rhetoric and made claims that were in many respects simply inaccurate
- had baselessly claimed that Trump’s decision to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem was part of a U.S. attempt to force an Israeli-written agreement on the Palestinians.
- had failed to acknowledge a significant escalation of rockets fired by Hamas and other militant groups into Israel, which clearly represented the danger that Hamas and these groups present.

Greenblatt asserted that the Palestinian leadership need not shackle themselves to Hamas’s failure – in fact, this should be the Palestinian Authority’s opportunity to do the right thing for the people they lead.

Greenblatt called on Erekat and the Palestinian Authority to reject Hamas’s violence and lies and work with America to bring relief to Gaza where America believed real progress could be made that would lay the foundation for a more hopeful future.

Greenblatt’s reference to the “Palestinian Authority” was strange indeed – since it had been disbanded by written decree issued by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on 3 January 2013.

Greenblatt stressed it was time to stop indulging in overwrought rhetoric and give the Palestinian people something beyond words. Palestinian leadership must create better lives, not sacrifice those lives for Hamas’ grim agenda of terror.

Greenblatt claimed he had heard many Palestinian voices over the past 16 months and many did not agree with Erekat or his approach. Yet, the sad thing is that most would only meet and speak honestly and openly in private because they are afraid to speak publicly.

The White House is unlikely to present its Middle ‎East peace plan before August, a source familiar ‎with the issue told Israel Hayom Thursday. Jerusalem ‎officials confirmed they had no information ‎regarding an earlier rollout of a peace plan. ‎

A U.S. National ‎Security Council spokesperson said ‎senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner and ‎Special Representative for ‎International ‎Negotiations Jason Greenblatt are expected to travel ‎to ‎Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia "to discuss the ‎situation ‎in Gaza and to discuss the next stages of ‎the peace effort, as well ‎as get some ideas from ‎players in the region about some remaining ‎questions ‎the White House peace team has. The trip may include ‎‎other stops as well."‎

While in Israel, Kushner and Greenblatt are scheduled ‎to team with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David ‎Friedman ‎for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin ‎Netanyahu. ‎

Since U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as ‎Israel's capital, the Palestinians have refused to ‎meet with American officials, citing their "gross ‎biased" toward Israel. As such, Kushner and ‎Greenblatt are ‎not scheduled to meet with anyone ‎from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' ‎government.‎ ‎

We didn’t learn this week whether North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons. Only time will tell.

But we did learn that US President Donald Trump knows how to negotiate.

All of the negotiations experts insist the opposite is true. “How could they agree to a presidential summit without first guaranteeing its end product?” they sigh, knowingly.

“Trump’s showmanship is dangerous and counterproductive,” they sneer.

“At the end of the day, for this to work, Trump will have to copy Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran,” they insist.

Dennis Ross, who mediated the negotiations between Israel and the PLO that led directly to the largest Palestinian terrorism campaign against Israel in history, and Wendy Sherman, who negotiated Bill Clinton’s horrible nuclear deal with North Korea in 1994 and Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, as well as all their esteemed colleagues have taken up their pens and stood before the cameras and clucked about how Trump’s Singapore show is amateur hour.

But what we actually saw in Singapore, for the first time since Ronald Reagan went to Reykjavik, was a US president who actually knew how to negotiate with America’s enemies.

Indeed, Singapore was the first time a Western leader from any nation has gotten the better of his opponent at the negotiating table.

A classified document written and distributed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry after the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore reportedly raises skepticism about the result of the talks and concern over several concessions made by the US president.

“Regardless of the smiles in the summit, many in Japan, South Korea and the US Congress doubt that North Korea is sincere in its intentions,” the document said, Channel 10 reported Thursday.

Despite Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praising the summit as an “important step” in denuclearizing North Korea, the reported document said there were “significant gaps” between the United States’ tough stances before the meeting and parts of the agreement signed Tuesday by Trump and Kim.

The document was said to have been sent Wednesday to Israeli diplomatic missions around the world, as well as to senior Foreign Ministry officials and the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Our assessment is that regardless of President Trump’s statements about quick changes that are expected in North Korean policy, the road to real and substantive change, if it ever happens, will be long and slow,” the ministry’s researchers wrote, according to Axios.

The Israeli military on Friday said an aircraft fired warning shots at a group of Palestinians involved in the launching of incendiary balloons toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, as well as at vehicles in Gaza.

“A short while ago, an aircraft fired warning shots at an incendiary balloon cell and at vehicles in the south of the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.

“The IDF views the use of incendiary balloons and kites with great severity and will operate to prevent their use,” the military said.

It was the third time in 48 hours that Israel opened fire at Gazans as they attempted to start fires in Israeli territory with airborne arson devices.

There were no reports of injuries in any of the Israeli strikes.

The method of firing warning shots appeared to be a new tactic that the military was looking to adopt in order to counter the threat posed by these kites and balloons, which have burned thousands of acres of farmland, forests and nature reserves in the regions around the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli officials.

Hamas on Thursday threatened to send 5,000 fire kites and balloons deep into Israeli territory on Friday during the weekly “March of Return” mass protests.

With the leader of the Hamas terrorist group in attendance, several thousand Palestinians on Friday performed the traditional morning prayer of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr near Gaza’s perimeter fence with Israel, as part of the now weeks-long protests on the border.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh joined about 2,000 worshippers Friday in one of the areas near the fence, pledging that protests would continue. He said the protests have “revived the Palestinian issue” by refocusing world attention and praised a UN General Assembly resolution that passed earlier this week accusing Israel of using “excessive” force against the protesters.

As the demonstrations picked up again on Friday morning, the Palestinian Shams news outlet reported the IDF fired on a Hamas observation post in the southern Gaza Strip, near the city of Rafah.

An incendiary balloon launched from the Gaza Strip landed in a populated area inside of Israeli territory Friday.

The balloon, which had the words “I Love You”, was attached to an incendiary device.

After being launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the balloon bomb landed in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in the western Negev.

After authorities were notified of the bomb’s location, police sappers were dispatched to the scene and neutralized the device.

Thousands of Arab rioters amassed along the Israel-Gaza border Friday, in anticipation of yet another round of clashes with Israeli security forces in an attempt to breach the security fence separating Israel from the Strip.

Thousands of Arab rioters have gathered along the Israel-Gaza border Friday morning, with major clashes expected later today between Gazans attempting to breach the security fence and Israeli security forces.

As rioters gathered on the border, one Gazan attempted to infiltrate into Israeli territory. Israeli soldiers apprehended the suspect, who apparently was not armed at the time of the attempted infiltration.

The suspect has been transferred for interrogation.

The IDF has deployed extra forces to the Gaza border area ahead of Friday’s riots, which are expected to include a large number of attacks by terrorists using incendiary balloons and “terror kites”.

The Israeli defense industry has adapted a new rifle sighting system to intercept kite bombs and other flammable objects being flown across the border by Palestinian terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the Hebrew news site Walla reported on Thursday.

The “Smart Shooter” system — which enables precise, single-shot firing of 5.56 millimeter-caliber bullets at airborne targets — was successfully used by two Israeli Border Police teams last Friday, according to the report.

Meanwhile, an IAF aircraft on Thursday fired a warning shot at a group of Palestinians who were preparing to launch an incendiary balloon from Gaza into Israel.

Later, an airstrike was conducted against an “infrastructure” target in the same area, the Israeli military said.

The IDF said it viewed the threat posed by kite bombs and incendiary balloons “very seriously” and would “continued to act to prevent their use.”

In a show of hope and defiance in the face of the hundreds of “terror kites” and flaming helium balloons launched into southern Israel by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, the children of the southern town of Sderot gathered to make colorful kites and fly them for an afternoon of enjoyment.

Kites and balloons affixed with incendiary devices have been flown into Israel by Gazans since March 30 when the Hamas terror organization, which controls Gaza, began “March of Return” riots at the Israeli border.

Thousands of acres of farm land and nature reserves inside Israel have been destroyed, with losses in the millions of shekels.

On Monday, officials in Sderot—a town that has been the target of thousands of rocket attacks in the last decade—hosted parents and children for a kite-making workshop, including storytelling about the history of the kite. Participants received complete kite-making kits and then joined the kids in flying their creations in the sky.

“As opposed to our neighbors from the Gaza Strip, who have turned the wonderful hobby of flying kites into an act of terrorism, with terrible damage to agriculture, the children of Sderot and the surrounding communities are returning the kite to its source—from preparation to flying it into the sky and hoping that it will not fall,” Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi said in a statement. “We are busy with positive things and optimism, and the desire that our children always be happy. I also call on the children of Gaza to enjoy playing with kites and not be drawn astray by terrorist elements. Ours are kites of life, not death.”

The grand mufti of Jerusalem on Friday castigated US President Donald Trump’s as-yet unannounced peace plan in his sermon to 90,000 worshipers gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Speaking at Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the city’s highest Islamic authority, said it was an “unfair plan that aims at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

Trump has promised the “ultimate deal” between Israelis and Palestinians and is expected to unveil the plan soon.

White House special adviser Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt will travel to the region next week and are expected to hold talks with leaders on when to present a Trump administration proposal, as well as to seek ideas on resolving the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (second left) and US President Donald Trump’s special envoys Jason Greenblatt (left) and Jared Kushner (center) meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the PMO in Jerusalem, June 21, 2017. (Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv)

The tour comes amid a nadir in relations between the United States and the Palestinians, with the Palestinian Authority refusing to speak to Washington over the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the subsequent relocation of the US embassy to the city last month. Palestinians say the moves disqualify the US as Mideast peace broker.

In a surprise move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that a long-term peace agreement has been successfully negotiated. In a joint press conference, the world leaders announced that the State of Israel will cease to exist entirely, being replaced by a unified Jewish-Arab nation called Palestein.

“It is time,” said Abbas, “for Palestein to take its rightful place on the Mount Rushmore of great Jewish Steins. Rosenstein, Ben Stein, Palestein. I think it fits nicely. Besides, this way I can finally retire and deal with my chronic ear infections in peace.”

“The change,” said Netanyahu, “checks every box. It honors Hamas’s call to remove Israel from the map and absolves the Palestinian Authority of all of its responsibilities as a governing body. Most importantly, we will maintain a state that is both Jewish and democratic, but Jewish in a sort of spiritual-but-not-religious-twenty-something way.”

During the press conference, confused reporters grilled the pair over the practical implications of the decision to which Abbas responded, “Listen, we’re one state now. The Jews will continue running the economy, and in return, we’ll stop stabbing them in the street, probably.”

As he spoke about Israel’s desire to be as much a home to Muslim Israelis as America has become to American Jews — a wonderfully intelligent analogy — I could only think of the integrated and thriving yet intensely competitive climate for Israel’s Muslim scholars at the Technion —Israel Institute of Technology, where I have met many Muslim leaders including female leaders, and discovered that, with the tremendous support of the Technion, Israel’s Muslims are competing, engaging, and ultimately graduating with a deep desire to serve Israel itself. Even though the MD-PhD candidates and other medical students I met all recognized the Technion’s expectations that they would study for a time internationally, each one I spoke to at length explained a deep desire to return to serve and strengthen the Israeli communities that had given them such remarkable opportunities in scholarship.

Just as I lapsed into this reverie, Ambassador Dermer mentioned the remarkable Israeli Arab Muslim valedictorian of Medicine at the Technion, Dr. Mais Ali Saleh, now a talented obstetrician and valedictorian of one of the world’s premiere scientific institutions, herself a child of a plumber from Nazareth for whom his daughter’s education was paramount. I was reminded of my extraordinary visit with her and other fellow Arab Muslims at the Technion, who shared with me the true diversity of Israel as they experience it.

At the end of his remarks, Ambassador Dermer shared his own experiences as a young student at Oxford University, where his closest friend was a Pakistani Shia Muslim. While the ambassador noted that his young friend was not particularly devout, it was during Ramadan that his friend became most homesick for Pakistan. Thus, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States began to learn about Ramadan’s familial and religious connections that Muslims in every corner of the globe experience, and crave when away from home crave, far from their families. We seek to recreate the experience of that tradition in the generous societies surrounding us.

It was this spirit that the ambassador so captured in the gracious hospitality not only of his home, but his family, and his nation, that suffuses my last days of Ramadan ending this week.

This touching sincerity that the State of Israel has been able to share, through Israel’s devoted public servants, with Muslims not only here in the United States, but in other consulates as well, including Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, particularly affects me, as I conclude a blessed and most supported Ramadan, where I was surrounded by Americans of all faiths and, in a beautiful evening this week, by so many Israeli Jews.

This powerful spirit of Israel closes my Ramadan and leaves it with a lasting fragrance of hope and possibility around the world, as Israel shows us not only how Muslims and Jews coexist within the Jewish nation but how the world beyond Israel might one day truly become.

The annual Russia Day celebration put on by the Russian embassy took on added significance on Thursday because it was held in Jerusalem, the first national day to be held in the capital by any country in recent memory.

“I am delighted to be here,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who in the past has sent other ministers to the Russian Day celebrations – said in the picturesque Sergei Courtyard in Jerusalem.

“I am honored to celebrate Russia Day here with you in Jerusalem, and I predict we will celebrate many, many more Russia Days in Jerusalem,” he said.

Netanyahu said that he has “great respect for Russia for its contributions to civilization and for the courage of its people.” The prime minister noted the critical role the Red Army played in the defeat of Nazi Germany, saying “we never forget the sacrifice of the Russian people and the Red Army in the defeat of the Nazi monster.”

Netanyahu said that the relationship between Israel and Russia is “born of common history and common interests,” including being “united in a common fight against terrorism.”

Netanyahu also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “fight against antisemitism.”

Czech President Milos Zeman said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to give up his own home in Jerusalem if the Czech Republic opens an embassy there.

Zeman said this, possibly as a joke, during a speech last week at a gala of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

Zeman, a staunch supporter of Israel who supports moving his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, praised US President Donald Trump for initiating in December the move of the US embassy to the Israeli capital. Zeman said he had supported moving the Czech embassy years ago, according to a transcription of his speech that was posted this week on the official website of the Czech presidency.

“That’s not all, Bibi Netanyahu told me: ‘If you do [the same] I will give you my own house for your embassy,’” Zeman said, adding: “I strongly hope that the offer is still valid because it could greatly reduce the cost of this relocation.”

Despite community leaders' calls for peace and passive resistance, hundreds of settlers, mostly youths, clashed with police. Two minors were arrested, the police said in a statement.

The eviction of the contested Netiv Haavot homes, which infringed on private Palestinian land by only a few yards, was the subject of a lengthy legal battle, mostly over the fact that the Palestinian landowner never came forward.

The settlers, on their part, said they would begin rebuilding their homes immediately.

"The settlement enterprise will only benefit from what happened here," said Amichai Filber, a resident of Elazar, a neighboring settlement.

"The government has already made this decision and instead of the 15 homes that were razed, they will build 300 homes in the area, including in Netiv Haavot. There will be territorial continuity between all the settlements here, so next time, the High Court will think twice before ruling this way," he said.

A video allegedly of IDF soldiers brutalizing a palestinian has been doing the rounds for a while, but getting much traction the last few days.

As usual, immediately upon seeing the video, I was skeptical as to its authenticity. Firstly, because the Israel haters and palestinians lie shamelessly. Secondly, because in this particular case, there is no sound, making my Spidey senses tingle even greater than normal.

And sure enough, the video has nothing to do with the IDF: it is video of Guatemalan army soldiers in 2015.

Note that the source video at the link contains audio. Whoever tried to pass this off as IDF soldiers deliberately removed this audio in order for their lie to gain traction.

Remember folks, treat everything coming out of their mouths with caution. Because almost always, it is a lie, and they feel the need to do it because they don’t have the truth on their side.

The following video has been doing the rounds on social media, allegedly of an “evil Zionist settler” targeting a mother and child with his/her car.

Naturally, it is yet another (presumably deliberate) lie by people who do not have truth or morality on their side.

True, it is video of a palestinian woman and child getting run over. But it was not at the hands of a Jewish person, as evidenced by the Arabic report of the incident (which occurred last year).

Note there is no mention of a Jew having driven the car, nor of it having been deliberate. Rather, it sounds as though a palestinian was busy on their phone, perhaps also influenced by Ramadan fatigue.

Dr. Leah Goldin, whose son, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is MIA and presumed dead since 2014, attacked on Friday the UN Middle East emissary, Nickolay Mladenov, accusing him of seeking to "upgrade" Gaza without bringing back the remains of Israeli MIAs held by Hamas.

She spoke in the weekly event near the Gaza border that has been held for seven weeks running, with the aim of bringing home Israel's MIAs from the 2014 Gaza war – Lt. Goldin and First Sgt. Oron Shaul – both presumed dead, as well as several Israeli citizens who crossed the border due to health issues are being held.

Mledanov, said Goldin, has been working against her family since he entered his current position. "In the last few days, we have understood that Mledanov is advancing a move to give Gaza assistance and to upgrade it, without the solution of first bringing back the IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens."

"I fail to grasp where he gets the chutzpah – as a UN representative – to advance such a move," she protested. "How does he allow himself to operate against international humanitarian law? Hadar was abducted during a ceasefire that the UN had initiated, and Mledanov – as the representative of the organization in the region – is responsible for Hadar's fate. But, instead of taking care of Hadar, Mledanov evades responsibility and operates against us. Since he entered office in 2015, I have yet to see him try to create a solution that would bring Hadar home, even once".

Gazans are speaking out about Hamas's theft of Eid Care packages, earmarked for the communities poor.
From the StandWIthUs Facebook page

Palestinians speak out!

A Gazan resident recently wrote that Hamas is stealing aid sent by Saudi Arabia to the people of Gaza. The letter says: "I am Mazen Abuta, citizen from Khan Younis. (I am) sending my letter to Salman, the ruler of Saudi Arabia. I swear by Allah, I have not received any help or any aid, because this aid goes only to Hamas, I swear and testify this in front of Allah."

The letter was shared in a post about how meat packages that were sent to Gaza that no one was allowed to sell but Hamas.

The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf took advantage of the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, when Jews were barred from visiting the Temple Mount, to eliminate from the compound piles of earth that were rich with archaeological treasures dating back to the Temple period, Makor Rishon reported Friday. The piles of earth were created initially by illegal renovations the Waqf carried out in 1999.

The soil that was now eliminated was dug up by the Waqf as part of its project of erecting a new mosque in the Solomon’s Stables area on the Temple Mount. At the time, 400 truckloads of ancient soil were unloaded in city dumps and in the Kidron Valley. Eventually, Israeli legal authorities became involved and banned the removal of the remaining piles of soil on the Temple Mount.

The Waqf was planning to get rid of those piles as well, but a court petition by the Public Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount was accepted by the High Court of Justice, which in 2004 issued an injunction against the removal of the piles of soil.

The United Nations has determined that debris from five ballistic missiles launched from Yemen into Saudi Arabia since July 2017 contained components manufactured in Iran and shared key design features with an Iranian missile, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new report.

But the UN chief said in the report to the Security Council obtained Thursday by The Associated Press that the United Nations has been unable to determine whether the missile parts and technology were transferred from Iran after Jan. 16, 2016, when UN restrictions came into force.

Guterres said the UN is also “confident” that some arms seized by Bahrain and recovered by the United Arab Emirates from an unmanned vessel laden with explosives were manufactured in Iran. But he said it found “no indications” of whether the items were transferred from Iran after UN restrictions took effect.

The secretary-general was reporting on implementation of a 2015 Security Council resolution that endorsed the Iran nuclear deal. The resolution includes restrictions that took effect on Jan. 16, 2016, on transfers to or from Iran of nuclear and ballistic missile material as well as arms.

My dear father knew how to run a country, and brooked defiance from no one. Me, I was slated for smaller-scale achievement, attending a western medical school with the goal of becoming an eye doctor, while my older brother Bassel underwent years of grooming to succeed Dad. Then poor Bassel killed himself in a car crash, and I had to change course to replace him – but it turns out my ophthalmology studies provided excellent preparation for the work of being a brutal dictator.

It seems perhaps counterintuitive, but there you have it. In treating ailments of the eye, one must be prepared to inflict pain on the patient so the condition can be remedied, even to the point of cutting away tissue – tissue that the body has grown accustomed to nourishing, but which must be excised to prevent loss of vision. In governing Syria, as my father demonstrated, one must be prepared to sacrifice tens of thousands of civilians to preserve one’s regime and its vision. In my case, hundreds of thousands, in addition to the creation of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons. Vision.

My studies also included material about the introduction of external agents – to the layperson, drugs – to treat or address conditions of the eye. That unit was an object lesson that I take to heart now as I introduce Russian, Iranian, Lebanese, and sundry other non-Syrian fighters and equipment to defeat the rebels of various stripes and continue to stick it to the Kurds. They can all be tarred with the “Islamist” brush in the name of wiping out resistance to my family’s rule. A blood-Baath, if you will. But I digress.

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون

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